Hotel Santa Maria Royal Suites Arequipa

... the group for pancakes, both Kate and I had ice cream in ours... yum!!!

Really tired, even following the afternoon nap, however I did manage to watch a bit of the American Football on telly while Kate slept... Dallas won!!!!!

Brilliant day in Arequipa, however Kate started to feel unwell that night, think she might have what I had early in the tour!!!!

Blog you later!!!

Mark & Kate

... arrive a lima, nous voila partis pour une longue attente, 6h, on court chez lan recuperer les bagages de jeremy, eureka, ils sont la !
fou de joie, il part se changer et contrairement a nous, (en mode pyjama),le voila tout propre et tout 9 et avec de nouveaux yeux; ptit casse croute, dernier pollo et papas; on passe le temps a jouer aux des et aux dames (cadeaux geant) que jeremy avait emmene pour donner aux enfants;
puis finalement ca passe plutot bien, le temps de "check in ...

... because one of the Davidson student’s was celebrating her 21st birthday. There was some dancing (as little as possible by me) and a little Kings (yes, it was exactly what you are thinking…I had visions of sitting in the senior apartments at Davidson at one of the tables in the corner of a kitchen)…

The party began at about 730, and I went with my host parents. I expected, especially because I was with them ...

... the 16th century rich nuns used to arrive with servants and lived quite a life - but then one extremely strict nun reformed the convent and extinguished a lot of the fun. The laundry set up was quite ingenius with a sort of mini canal running through the convent which they channelled into some giant terracotta pots where they washed their clothes.

We then did a spot of shopping and ...

... this canyon is not quite as vertically formed as Zion or Havasu in the States, but rather a deep valley running between two rather high sets of mountains -- perhaps it's a marketing ploy to get more tourists :). Anyway it's still beautiful as we pound our knees into submission switch back after switch back until we cross a bridge and make for the 2nd village well be spending the night at ...

... yet. Vomiting children, ridiculous amounts of heating, gravel roads, bursts of eardrum bursting music. It had it all. Man i was gratefull to get off that bus.
We had arrived in the town of Cabanaconde, not a whole lot there apart from it being the starting point of our two day hike. We again managed to find ourselves a funky (and warm!) little hostel owned by a nice and cute Peruvian named Ludwig (though not the most Peruvian name out there). The town itself was dry and ...

... forward to seeing it.



I don't think weīll be going to the hot springs, Arthur. We didnīt bring bathing suits. I needed the hot water when we were in Cusco, but today it has been beautiful weather. Probably about 78 in the sun. Short sleeves, no socks under the sandals. Love it!



Happy Mothers Day all you mothers. Iīm fortunate my grandchildren have the mothers they were blessed with.

Love, Mom-Nancy-Grammy

... our emails, have dinner (more pizza, getting a bit sick of it now), and get to the bus station with plenty of time for our departure to Cusco.

We took one of the local 'Pimp my ride' taxis to get to the station, it was like Ali G's car or something!



It was probably just as well that we left early because the long distance bus terminal was even more chaotic than the one in ...

... speaking tour guide. Many items - little statues, Inca metals, ceramics and textiles which were found with Juanita - were also exhibited at the museum. The guide also told us more about the Inca practice of human sacrifice. Juanita was made to walk all the way from Cuzco to Arequipa and then up the 5800m high mountain of Ampato dressed in only thin clothes. There, when she was close to dying, she was made to drink a glass of alcohol and then the chief priest hit ...

... br>For three days, I went on a hiking trop to Caņon del Colca or Colca Canyon - the world's deepest canyon. I went with a tour agency called Land Adventures, and I definately don't recommend them.

We left at 06:00 and boarded a seriously cramped public bus, with our guide Vladimir, to Cabanaconde, where we got to eat and then started our descend into the canyon, lowering some 1000 m (3300 feet) in altitude, down a very steep slope. Our group consisted of ...